Becoming Grassfed Day 38: My first Sacred Mayan Healing Ceremony

11/11/16

San Ignacio, Belize-San Antonio, Belize

Ever since my first trip to Cayo, I have always wanted to experience Mayan Healing firsthand. Earlier this week I met Maria Garcia, Great-Niece of Don Elijio Panti…one of the most well-known Mayan Healers in Belize. Maria invited me out to her house to see her gardens and healing center, today was the day I made it out there.

I started my morning off with a veggie omelet, beans, oranges, starfruit, watermelon, and toast with mango jam with a glass of orange juice. As I made my food I realized I had a seat at a table along with Susan and Larry (Naturopathic Doctor and her husband), Bart, Suzi, and Brent(Guest at the lodge looking to open wellness center). We had a very good conversation about the Organic situation in Belize, Aquaculture, and healing. I had to excuse myself to get ready for my bus ride to San Antonio.

Bart dropped me off downtown around 9, the bus leaves at 9:15 so I had time to get some snacks for the day. There are street vendors with $1 bags of fruit so I got a bag of each: pineapple, watermelon, and cantaloupe. Also in the market bananas are 10 for a dollar, both the baby organic ones and the normal size non-organic ones. I had the fruit all set up, but needed something salty…A $5 Bag of Pepitas would do the trick. Food all good but a $1 bag of coconut water for Maria and I would finish it all off. I walked around the corner and got on the bus, we finally left around 9:35 and were on our way to the small village about 8 miles away.

As I got to Maria’s house she showed me that the gift shop is being refinished after Hurricane Earl left damage and leaks that turned into rotting and the need for remodeling. We walked through the shop I met her mother and went on a tour of the medicinal plant garden. Although she explained that all plants are medicine, she showed me the concentration of her medicine garden, just on the backside of her house. She showed me plants that heal everything from diabetes and blood pressure issues to stress and parasites. Everything that needs to be healed can be taken care of with the right plants. I was amazed by the connection that she had with the medicine that she takes care of every day.

After the tour she asked me if I was interested in a Mayan Healing Ceremony, I instantly said yes and wondered what I had in store for me. I have read a lot about the healing that her great-uncle Don Elijio had done just down the road from here, I trust her completely and felt honored to take part in such a sacred event. The healing began with me sitting in a chair with copal resin burning on a fire around me, the copal tree is a sacred plant of the Mayans that is burned for spiritual ceremonies and cleansing…the scent alone helps relax. Her mother performed most of the event for me, applying oil to my wrists and reciting blessings in Mayan, brushing away the bag energy, burning incents, feeling my pulse, and at the end, the negative energy was released into a bunch of fresh basil…the fresh bundle went from perfect to wilted and shriveled by the then and she told me to toss them away this evening. The directions were to face the point in the sky where the sun sets with your back to the sunset, ask for healing and a cleansing of the body while meditating and finally throw the bundle of plants over my head at the end. I also was sent back with a homemade good luck charm made of a small 1×1 square pouch sewed up with herbs in it.

Following the cleansing I bought some copal soap and waited by the road for the 1 o’ clock bus to take me back to the lodge. As it showed up around 1:15 I was already late for the Pro-Organic meeting, it was well worth it to miss the first part for what I was experiencing, but a little interesting catching up on what I had missed. The main discussion is the co-op and how we are going to operate it financially and on Tuesdays when we distribute the shares of produce. The meeting was supposed to end around 3 but it ended up going on until about 4:30, we went straight through my Tui Na session with Susan. I was a little bummed about missing the time with Susan so Mary and I decided to go on an adventure on the trails before the shuttle came by to take her home.

I still had the basil that I needed to get rid of, we took a trail into One World Village and down towards the river until I found a steep enough hill. As I stood with the sunset behind me, Mary said a quick blessing and I meditated before throwing the bundle over my shoulder and off of the cliff. I felt a huge release as I walked straight away, leaving all of my worries in the past.

We walked back up through the village and down the road until she caught her ride, I went in and got ready to make some dinner. The lodge has continually gotten busier and busier over the past few nights, it is pretty packed so the kitchen staff stays super busy all evening, I dodged them as I grilled some eggs over-easy and cut up some fruit for dinner. I am on a huge egg kick right now, I am not sure where it came from but suddenly I have fallen back in love with the runny yolk soaked up in bread.

The rest of the evening was spent talking to family on the phone, I am not sure what I would do if phones and internet were not available for this long. If my family was here I could easily go without it but for these few months, I have been reliant on the technological connection.

Tomorrow morning, we are setting up the Pro-Organic booth at the market, I love all of the people that I get to meet throughout these days…always new friends and good Kombucha.